Image sensor and manufacturing method for the same

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to an image sensor and manufacturing method for the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As prior art solid image sensors, CCD or MOS image sensors have been used. While these image sensors are useful for some applications, it is difficult to design them suitable for photo-copying machine in the form of a linear strap which can span the length of an original paper. A number of sensor segments arranged along the linear strap can indivusually detect illumination.

In recent years, the development of contact image sensors has been broadly the subject of researchers. Image sensors of this type are provided with fine structure on a broad substrate in which eight sensors are arranged across each 1mm width. One of the difficulties in producing such a fine structure is appropriate designing of etching process. Wet-etching having a short process time is not suitable since micro-scale treatment must be done on a wide substrate. For this reason, dry-etching has been employed instead. In the later case, it is very difficult to etch a thin semiconductor film throughout the wide area of a substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide am image sensor which can pick up visual information quickly and exactly.

It is another object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing image sensors at low cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1(A), 1(B), 1(C), 1(D) and 1(E) are cross sectional views showing a manufacturing process of an image sensor in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 2(A), 2(B), 2(C), 2(D) and 2(E) are plan views showing a manufacturing process of an image sensor in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 3(A), 3(B), 3(C), 3(D), and 3(E) are perspective views showing a manufacturing process of an image sensor in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4(A) is a graphical diagram showing the response of an NIN junction to illumination.

FIG. 4(B) is a graphical diagram showing the response of an NIN junction when illumination to the junction is removed.

FIG. 5 is a graphical diagram showing the current-voltage characteristics of an NIN junction exposed to an not to illumination (100Lx), where the current level is ploted in terms of common log.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a driving circuit for image sensor.

FIG. 7 is a graphical diagram showing the current-voltage characteristics of an NIN juction exposed to and not to illumination (100Lx).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a manufacturing method in accordance with the present invention will be described. FIGS. 1(A) to 1(E), FIGS. 2(A) to 2(E) and FIGS. 3(A) to 3(E) are vertical cross sectional views, plane views and perspective views respectively showing the manufacturing process of an image sensor.

A 5000 Å thick SnO₂ film 2 is deposited on the entire surface of a glass substrate of 100 mm ×250 mm by a known CVD method. As the semiconductor device for performing photo-electric conversion, a 1 micron thick amorphous silicon semiconductor film 3 is deposited with an NIN junction incorporated therein on the SnO₂ film 2 by a known plasma CVD method. Other photosensitive junctions such as PIN and IN can be used in place of NIN junction.

To form grooves 8, 9 and 10, the films 2 and 3 are irradiated with laser beam from KrF eximer laser having a wavelength of 248 nm. The laser beam is shaped with a cross section 20 micron wide 300 mm length by expanding in one direction and contracted in a perpendicular direction. The groove 8 is engraved for electrode connection. The groove 10 reaching to the SO₂ film and the groove 9 are engraved for defining the sensor segments therebetween. In order that the groove 10 severes the SnO₂ film 2 and the grooves 8 and 9 don't severe the SnO₂ film 2, the number of irradiation of laser pulse of adjusted in the case. Laser beam pulse with 20-100 nano seconds, e.g. 50 seconds in pulse width is radiated 6 times for each of the grooves 8 and 9 and radiated 10 times for the groove 10.

The width of the sensor region between the grooves 9 and 10 is 100 microns. The widths of the grooves 8 and 10 are 20-25 microns which is nearly the width of laser beam. Although the width of the groove 9 can be equal to those of the grooves 8 and 10, it is selected to be about 50 microns in this embodiment for the purpose of providing a margin for the following alignment process.

Over the upper surface of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, a photosensitive organic resin film, such as polyimide is coated by a spinner and subjected to pre-baking at 80° C. for an hour. The organic resin is exposed to ultraviolet light around 400 nm in wavelength at 3.55 mW/cm² which enters from the bottom surface of the glass substrate 1 with a mask m hiding the groove 8 from the light illumination. After exposure for 5 minutes, the organic resin film is developed by a developer and removed except for the portion present in the grooves 9 and 10, which are designated by reference numeral 4 in the figures.

A 3000Å thick aluminium film 12 is coated on the structure in order to make electrical contact with the SnO₂ film 2 through the groove 8. Grooves 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 severing the structure into individual sensor segments are engraved respectively by 10-15 times irradiation with a laser beam at intervals of 100 microns. These grooves are formed so deep to completely severe the layer structure including the SnO₂ film 2 into electrically isolated individual sections.

Next, grooves 24 is formed in order to provide segment electrodes 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 as shown in FIGS. 1(C), 2(C) and 3(C) by 5 times laser beam irradiation in the same way as described above. In this case, a portion of the insulating film 4 may be removed as well as the overlying electrode film 12. The groove 24 partially overlaps the aforementioned grooves 9. The center positions of the groove 24 is displaced out of the center of the groove 9 toward the segment electrode 23.

Furthermore, a 5000Å thick polyimide film 25 is coated on the structure, followed by post-baking at 100° C. for an hour. The polyimide film is patterned by 5 times laser pulse irradiation in order to provide a groove 26 for taking out the signal from the common electrode underlying and a groove 27 for taking out the siganl from the segment electrode 23 as illustrated in FIGS. 1(D), 2(D) and 3(D). The electrode 27 is formed slanted with respect to the segment electrodes.

Furthermore, a 300Å aluminium film 28 is coated over the upper surface of the structure and patterned by 5 times laser pulse irradiation in order to provide common electrodes 29 and segment electrodes 30. 31, 32, 33 and 34. The film 28 makes contact with the the aluminium film 12 through the grooves 26 and 27 as shown in FIGS. 1(E), 2(E) and 3(E). Accordingly, the segment electrodes 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 are connected to the underlying segment electrodes 23, 22, 21 and 20 through the slanted groove 27. Then, a contact image sensor is completed.

In what follow, a driving circuit suitable for this image sensor will be described.

FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B) are graphical diagrams showing the variation of current passing through an NIN junction with 10 V thereacross when light illumination is applied or removed. As shown in the figures, the 90% rise time from the dark condition to light condition of the NIN junction is 1-3 microseconds and the 90% fall time fom the light condition to the dark condition is 2-6 microseconds. FIG. 5 is a graphical diagram showing the voltage-current characteristic of the junction. The abscissa is applied voltage (-10 V to +10 V) while the ordinate is common log of passing current. Curve 45 is plotted in case without irradiation and curve 46 in case with irradiation. From this figure, it will be noted that the current passing through the junction increases as the junction is exposed to illumination. When the applied voltage exceeds a certain level, the current increases exponentially.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a driving circuit suitable for this image sensor is schematically illustrated. In the figure, the image sensor consists of sixty four sensor segments 49, 40, . . . , 41 each of which has been made as described in the above. An NIN (or NIN⁻ NN⁺) junction is incorporated in the sensor segmants. A voltage Vo is applied to the sensor segments through a pair of terminals 47 and 48 between which the sensor segments are arranged in parallel. The sensor segments are connected with a multiplexer 45, 46, . . . , an 47 and resistances 42, 43, . . . , and 14. The multiplexer allows one of the sensor segments to output therethrough in accordance with the digital signal supplied from the address generator 48. The output signal of the multiplexer is input to a high impedance buffer 49. The buffer 49 is a voltage follower having an operational amplifier. The output of the buffer is input to one input terminal of a comparison circuit 50, the other terminal being connected to a voltage divider 51.

Under a predetermined voltage applied to the terminals 47 and 48, each sensor segment produces a certain voltage level at its connection point with a corresponding resistance in accordance with whether or not that segment receives light. The voltage levels of the sensor segments are scanned and detected successively by supplying address signals to the multiplexer from the generator. Accordingly, visual information can be detected in terms of binary codes.

The value of the resistors is important. This value is determined by the following process in order to enable optimal operation of the driving device. Reference is made to FIG. 7.

(1) To investigate the current-voltage characteristic of the sensor segment over a voltage range upto the voltage level Vo that is to be applied between the terminals 47 and 48 in both the cases where the sensor segment is and is not irradiated with light. Curve 5 represents in case without irradiation and curve 6 represents in case with irradiation.

(2) To draw a striaght line intersecting the line of abscissa at Vo and obtain the abscissae V₁ and V₂ of the points at which the curve 5 and the curve 6 intersect the straight line.

(3) To determine the straight line as drawn by the previous step (2) in order to make V₁ -V₂ maximum.

(4) To calculate the value of the resistances based on that line determined by the step (3).

While a description has been made for several embodiments, the present invention should be limited only by the appended claims and should not be limited by the particular examples. What follow are some examples of modifications and variation according to the invention.

Although the common electrode is formed of the transparent conductive film underlying the photosensitive semiconductor film while the segment electrode is formed of the alminium film overlying the semiconductor film, the levels of the two electrodes can be switched.

By modify the above described process in suitable combination of laser scribing and insulating film formation, sensor segments can be two-dimensionally arranged. 

We claim:
 1. A image sensor comprising:a plurality of photosensitive elements; a plurality of resistance each of which is connected to corresponding one of said elements in series; a voltage source for producing a voltage across each series connection comprising of said element and said resistance; and a means for detecting the voltage levels at the connecting points of said element with the corresponding resistance, wherein the value of said resistance is selected to make maximum the differential voltage at the connecting point between the voltage when this sensor is exposed to illumination and the voltage when this sensor is not exposed to illumination.
 2. The sensor of claim 1 wherein said photosensitive element is such that the current passing therethrough exponentially increases as the voltage thereacross increases linearly.
 3. The sensor of claim 2 wherein said detecting means includes a multiplexer which selects one of the output signals from said photosensitive elements.
 4. The sensor of claim 3 wherein said detecting means further includes a comparison circuit which judges whether the output level of said multiplexer is higher than a certain level.
 5. The sensor of claim 4 wherein said detecting means further comprises a buffer circuit through which the output of said multiplexer is inputted to said comparison circuit.
 6. The sensor of claim 5 wherein said buffer circuit is a high impedance voltage follower. 